Does anyone know much about the upcoming horror game Deadly Premonition for the Xbox 360? All I gathered is that it was originally named "Rainy Woods", and was in development as a Silent Hill killer. Unfortunately a legal battle put the game on hiatus. It is now being released with a name change as a $20 value title from Ingnition Entertainment, due out February 23rd. The trailers look fairly cool, although the game is definitely showing signs of age. It may be worth a $20 investment if the core gameplay is solid.

Nope, never heard of it - not that I'm on the cutting edge of on-the-horizon game releases - but I'll be glad to bump it back to the first page.

I'd love another Silent Hill 2-type game, and a SH killer would be even better. " SH4: The Room" never grabbed me, but SH2 gave me some of those memorable moments that one sometimes gets in gaming, and never forgets. That game was creepy and even shocking - in a surprise/ unexpected sense... that couch in front of the TV, after it "changed position" - still scares me! Oh, yeah, I'd be ready for it... even if it takes several more months to appear, or for me to get to, given the usual GT backlog I have going.

So... talk amongst yourselves!

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Mytocles (MY-toe-cleez)

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!"- I don't remember who said it, and probably neither do they...

It's a bargain-priced game, which doesn't fill me with hope, but who knows. Here's a trailer from when it used to be called Rainy Woods.

Thanks for the link. I doubt this game will add to my backlog any time soon, if ever. I know SH2 was gory, but it was also an above average game, imo. DP (or RW, lol) looks average, at best. I'll pass on the half naked, blood covered women hanging from wires - and guys... erm... squirming in their pants, and blood dripping everywhere. Enough, already!

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Mytocles (MY-toe-cleez)

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!"- I don't remember who said it, and probably neither do they...

If it's got a good story, I could overlook some dated graphics and a gore emphasis. However, what gives me hope is that the game is finally adding in the one element I feel has been missing from survival horror games all these years

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Various mini-games such as fishing

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Warning: You will see my penis. -Brian

Just remember: once a user figures out gluten noting them they're allowed to make fun of you. - Ceekay speaking in tongues.

Awful in nearly every way. The Twin Peaks meets Resident Evil with a dash of Grand Theft Auto formula sounds pretty great, but it was well beyond the capabilities of this development team. Terrible controls. Terrible pacing. Terrible sound effects. Terrible visuals. Maybe you can convince yourself that these things don't matter as you work through this surreal and quirky storyline. The rest of us will be off playing better videogames.

QuoteDeadly Premonition is the definition of a system seller. Once you play it, you'll want to go sell your system.

LOL yea thats hilariously great. well, not for the games creators - but as a line in a review this gets a huge

i wish the innsmouth horror game that came out last gen would be remade. i always regretted not spending more time with it, and what little i played was fantastic. to this day i cant remember what happened, and why i ended up putting it down but i did and have been bummed since.

Strangely, people on CheapassGamer, GameFaqs, the main Deadly premonition forum, and a few other places I frequent are enjoying the game. They all agree that the graphics are 5 years past their prime, and that the audio is spartan and rehashed. But they also mention that the main character has alot of personality, the town is interesting, and the storyline and characters are somewhat impressive.

Perhaps this guy gets it right?:

"Some people are trying to rate this like a $60 release. If you go into the game thinking of it as a budget title, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how much in the game is done well. Dated graphics and clunky controls, but the storyline has me hooked, the main character is entertaining, and it has a horror-Shenmue feel to it. I'm 14 hours in, nearing the end, and I'd give it a 7."

If someone takes a bullet and grabs Last Rebellion, I'll take a leap of faith on Deadly Premonition.......

Okay, so I bit the bullet and picked up Deadly Premonition. IGN review be damned. Apparently many people who have actually played the game seems to find quite a few redeeming qualities sprinkled throughout, while most people railing against it have never even had the game in their console's drive.

First of all, let me say that the graphics are absolutely PS2 generation, with the exception of some of the character models. I know alot of people argue about how this game or that game has last-gen graphics, but nobody will be arguing about Deadly Premonition. It is an original Xbox level title. Driving is clunky, but the combat controls are well done. If you've survived playing with the old Resident Evil controls, you'll find these to be a step up. The options menu allows you to invert and adjust most controls to your heart's content.

Actual combat has been somewhat disappointing, simply because the enemy models are relatively uninspired. Most enemies I've encountered so far have gone down with relative ease. A couple bullets to the head, or a swipe of a baseball bat is enough to turn you into a professional monster hunter. I have yet to learn why my FBI persona is so at ease with suddenly walking into Silent Hill lite. He whacks a bunch of walking corpses, and then lights up a cigarette when the chaos is over. You would think he was the third agent in the X-Files by his nonchalance.

So, combat is uninspired, driving is clunky, and the music is at times completely out of place and too loud at times (but luckily it can be turned down/off). So what is there to like? Well, the atmosphere, dialogue and NPCs are so strange and entertaining that each new person you talk to can be a treat. And the main character is twisted, endearing, charismatic and seemingly delusional and all at once. He talks to himself. He talks to some imaginary person called Zach. He complains about the bonus features on DVDs, and how Tom and Jerry cartoons are lessons in abusive co-dependent relationships.

Fail to bathe and flies form around your character. Fail to shave and you grow a beard. You need to eat. Cars run out of gas if you don't fill up the tank. There are many Shenmue-esque details running like undercurrents throughout the game. Oh, and there is a murder mystery that is actually interesting. And everybody is bent in one fashion or another.

The game lacks the surreal trappings of Silent Hill, or the visceral combat of Resident Evil. Despite that, I ended up playing for two hours straight. I wouldn't actually recommend this game to anyone, but if you are looking for something off the beaten path and if eyecandy is not a factor, then Deadly Premonition might be worth your $20. Twin Peaks meets Shenmue meets GTA meets Silent Hill. All wrapped up in textures 5 years past their prime by developers who were jacks-of-all trades but masters of none. I'm happy I grabbed it, but tread lightly if you are on the fence.

Here is some user feedback from other forums:

----------This is the Shenmue sequel you've always wanted.

It looks, feels, and plays exactly like a Dreamcast game. Everything from the graphics to the awkward animations to the stilted dialog to the...basically everything about this game reminds me of the Dreamcast, and Shenmue in particular.

After a terrible and misleading prologue chapter, the game turns into an exploration-based adventure. Much of what I've played so far involves casually wandering around a sparse world and having hilarious non-sequitur-filled conversations. I still can't tell whether it's genuinely funny or if it's just a brilliant parody.

I mean, there's a button you can push while driving to make your character talk to himself about the movies that he's videotaped off of television. You need to shave, or else you'll grow a beard. You need to change your clothes, or else little stink flies will start to hover around your character. It's detailed in the stupidest of ways. It's Shenmue, in other words.

It's definitely not what anyone would traditionally consider "good," but it's compelling as hell, and I can't wait to play more of it. ----------

I really wasn't expecting myself to like the game as much as I do, it really has this odd charm and its cast of characters always seem to make me laugh. Yeah, it has a few problems that can annoy me, like the map without being able to set a beacon or the awkward driving. Regardless of that however I am really enjoying myself slowly unraveling the mystery in the game and watching the characters react to everything that I discover, It's a fun game and is definitely worth checking out at the budget price. I'm having a lot more fun with this game than some AAA titles and I love the backside of country represented in the game, it feels like a breath of fresh air from every game with buildings or a bunch of brown. To me at least.

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this game is like a good mystery novel, it's really hard to put it down. after all these AAA titles that come out at $60 and only last between 4-6 hrs. it's nice to have a game that's only $20 and is over 20 hrs., talk about getting ur money's worth.

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Strangely addictive and unusually compelling, I'm finding the game very hard to put down. The prologue simply doesn't do the game justice, and I can't help but think that the IGN reviewer pencil-whipped his review. The game is far from pretty, but the story and bizarre cast of characters is better than most recent releases.

went looking for it at my rental place just because "living world" type games are very interesting to me. unfortunately, no go so i rented tenchu instead. wow what a terrible move - should have stuck with my fond memories of it on ps1 (or was it ps2? dunno). anyway, that is all - keep the impressions coming ya?

Wow, IGN labelled this "one of the worst games ever" but that seems a bit much. From the gameplay videos posted, I can see what you mean about the graphics but the thing that really stood out for me was how the ground (grass?) textures seemed all... shimmery? Not sure how to describe but they sparkle/shimmer/jiggle or something. Do you see that in the game itself?

Ya the graphics are old, but the gameplay is a hybrid of different genres I enjoy. Its got that weird charm that keeps me excited, and the story actually isn't bad at all.

I keep thinking this game is basically what Bioshock (or a similar landmark title) would be with a terrible engine. Meaning the ideas are there, but the designers just couldn't leverage them. For 20 bucks, its a really good time, and perfect for that April lull where nothing else is coming out.

Wow, IGN labelled this "one of the worst games ever" but that seems a bit much. From the gameplay videos posted, I can see what you mean about the graphics but the thing that really stood out for me was how the ground (grass?) textures seemed all... shimmery? Not sure how to describe but they sparkle/shimmer/jiggle or something. Do you see that in the game itself?

This game is far removed from one of the worst games ever. Quite simply, it is a stranger in a strange land, released 5-6 years past the date in which it belonged. If this game was released back in '04, we would probably be very positive about it. As it stands in 2010, refinements to video game development, in terms of graphics and user control, have evolved significantly past Deadly premonition's final product. But the story and characters are still (so far) fairly awesome.

1Up, who have generally been displeased with pretty much every damned game lately, gave this a shocking, solid B.

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This is what I mean when I say that Deadly Premonition has some of the best game writing I've seen. Understand that I don't mean it's full of gorgeous prose (in fact, much of the dialogue is awkward and in need of an editor), what I mean is that the game tells you its story in the interactive way that only a videogame can. Sure, you may, if you wish, simply move from checkpoint to checkpoint and get the gist of the story through cut-scenes. But actually exploring the town and acting on your instincts will flesh out Greenvale and its strange inhabitants in very rewarding ways. The game has more dialogue than you're ever likely to read -- not only does every character have something new to say during each of the game's numerous chapters, but what they have to say changes depending on where they are at the time you talk to them.

Deadly Premonition is by no means a great game, at least in the traditional sense, but I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy every minute of my nearly 42 hours playing it. The setting and story might have a little too much in common with the early 1990s television series Twin Peaks, but the homage is done with love and admiration. You can really tell that game director SWERY and his team at Access Games went above and beyond in creating Deadly Premonition, and frankly, it disgusts me knowing that the game was kicked out the door at a $20 super-budget price point.

Much of the game is simply too bizarre to adequately describe, and one definitely needs a twisted sense of humor in order to "get" what Deadly Premonition is all about. However, if you truly understand this game (well, as best as one can understand such a monstrous creation) then you will be struck dumb by one of the most memorable and truly unique titles ever crafted. Yes, Deadly Premonition is bad. By most standards it's terrible. And yet I wouldn't change a thing. Deadly Premonition is almost perfect at what it does -- it thoroughly, confusingly, entertains from start to finish.

Question on the toolboxes, are these magical stashes that show up in various places and if I put something in one I can pull it out of any other one? I was a little flummoxed when I first got the option to 'take' something or 'put in toolbox', wasn't sure what to do. And after playing BS2 for the last little while, I was afraid that 'take' meant use or eat immediately or something of that ilk rather than the local inventory 'shove it in your pants' action (shades of LSL) which is what it actually seems to do.

I only played about 2 hours and I need to hold off because of FF13. But ya know what, this really doesn't seem half bad. This really isn't my type of game because I hate resident evil style shooting(srsly. it's dumb). But the rest of this seems pretty interesting. The cut scenes are amazing in that if this is anything less than a parody i would be shocked. the dialogue york has with "zach" is so awesome. I mean he talks about the old day of movies and how movies from the 80s have crappy special features lol. also the opening part about tom and jerry was freakin great.

Underneath all this I think could be a fairly interesting story. The characters certainly are characters. the world is fairly open. you actually get a car you drive around town to visit the shops and such. there's a bunch of side quests you can do. i mean wth this is a 20 dollar and outside of the crappy looking textures this really doesn't seem that bad. well the driving in the car sucks. it's like my tires are made of ice.

I like the driving dialogue with the B movie stuff. Awesome to hear a reference to "The Deadly Spawn".

Controls aren't the sharpest, but it's nothing new for survival horror. Whenever I have to use my weak pea shooter, I run far away and shoot from a distance. It's good to have infinite bullets with that one.

I don't mind the drivng too much, but I wish the destination tracking was a better on the mini-map. I'm always switching screens to find out if I'm going the right direction. Other than that, I'm having a great time so far.

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"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" -VoltaireXBL gamertag: NthPowr

FWIW: GiantBomb has begun their Endurance Run of Deadly Premonition with Ryan Davis and Brad Shoemaker at the controls. I don't know if it can possibly be as entertaining as their Persona 4 play through, especially since Brad tends to play the straightman to the other "on-camera" personalities, but I'm looking forward to finding out!

wow, just reading the manual right now (26 pages! OMG that is almost novel length for a manual these days ) this game does seem to have a surprising depth to it. cars have a fuel gauge, sleeping and the mini games. I did LOL at the holding breath section, where they say 'At a certain point in the game you will gain the ability to hold your breath'.

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Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay

I strongly suspect that a good chunk of the stuff they tell you how to do in the manual winds up being totally pointless in the actual game. For example, you can turn on your windshield wipers and turn signals in the car. Except that you can also hop out to a third person view when driving, and nobody gives a rat's ass about your turn signals (that I've seen). Do I still use both of those? You betcha! Why? No earthly idea!

I'm definitely not shaving though. My dude is going to be growing a mighty beard!

Did you die at the part where both of the Endurance Runs did? I can't say I was surprised when Brad got hacked apart -- he's so distracted during taping that I don't think I've ever seen a GiantBomb Quick Look in which he didn't die -- but Vinny's pretty sharp and I don't know why his frantic "Evade!"ing didn't save his life.

By the way, despite early rumors that the new ERs wouldn't be daily the way the original was, there are new episodes of eachtoday.

Did you die at the part where both of the Endurance Runs did? I can't say I was surprised when Brad got hacked apart -- he's so distracted during taping that I don't think I've ever seen a GiantBomb Quick Look in which he didn't die -- but Vinny's pretty sharp and I don't know why his frantic "Evade!"ing didn't save his life.

just watched those and yep, bought it at that part. not a big fan of QTE's, especially ones where I have to waggle the thumbstick back and forth.

what's everyone playing on? I put it on normal but I'm debating starting over on easy just so I can enjoy the story; I can already tell the combat controls are going to annoy me. the right thumbstick controls the camera all of the time except when you have to aim the gun, then it switches to the left thumbstick, which ends up with me trying to aim with the right thumbstick at first everytime.

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Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay

Did you die at the part where both of the Endurance Runs did? I can't say I was surprised when Brad got hacked apart -- he's so distracted during taping that I don't think I've ever seen a GiantBomb Quick Look in which he didn't die -- but Vinny's pretty sharp and I don't know why his frantic "Evade!"ing didn't save his life.

By the way, despite early rumors that the new ERs wouldn't be daily the way the original was, there are new episodes of eachtoday.

Did you die at the part where both of the Endurance Runs did? I can't say I was surprised when Brad got hacked apart -- he's so distracted during taping that I don't think I've ever seen a GiantBomb Quick Look in which he didn't die -- but Vinny's pretty sharp and I don't know why his frantic "Evade!"ing didn't save his life.

By the way, despite early rumors that the new ERs wouldn't be daily the way the original was, there are new episodes of eachtoday.

-Autistic Angel

that has be scripted to kill you. I did that QTE and still died.

Did you do the initial "Press 'A' to Evade!" or miss that and fail the subsequent "Flail Around With The L-Stick to Evade!" QTE? I'm okay with scripted death sequences if they're integral to the narrative -- Demon's Souls, Eternal Darkness, and the original Legacy of Kain have each used that trick to great effect -- but that part in Deadly Premonition struck me as completely arbitrary.